Illustrated London News Goes Digital

Between 1842 and 1971, the Illustrated London News was one of the capital's major publishing institutions. The newspaper pioneered the use of drawings in the service of reportage, and chronicled developments locally, nationally and overseas. For anyone fascinated by London's history, its archive holds many treasures. Today, that archive is available electronically and in full (including the non-weekly issues after 1971) to institutional subscribers.

As well as reproducing the papers in their original layout, including adverts and notices, the archive is fully text searchable. Images have been tagged up, allowing pictorial searches. In total, the archive contains a quarter of a million pages and three-quarters of a million illustrations. The Guardian picks out a few faves.